Biography

The top-ten charting Finnish death doom spearhead Kuolemanlaakso, starring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), are about to release their first album in eight years. The band’s third full-length Kuusumu (Svart Records, 3/2022) was co-produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by the Triptykon and Dark Fortress guitarist V. Santura, with whom the band has worked with on all of their releases. “It was great to get back to business with the guys and have the opportunity to invite a couple of old friends to help us out, too. Kuusumu’s keyboards were produced and co-arranged by Aleksi Munter (Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade), and Lotta Ruutiainen (Luna Kills) did some amazing singing on a couple of tracks. In my humble opinion we took many steps forward on Kuusumu”, says guitarist-songwriter Laakso. Kuusumu’s texts are loosely based on the sudden global cooling that began in 535, leading to a 10-year long winter, loss of crops, famine and mass deaths of cattle and other animals. The climate change was most likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions, the fog of which darkened the sun for 1,5 years, causing loss of light and intolerable coldness. Moreover, the bubonic plague that began in the Byzantine Empire in 541 swept across Europe, killing tens of millions of people during the climate crisis.